Words

Last night Tim walked upstairs and on the way did a really loud burp.  "That's grocery daddy!!"  Ella exclaimed.  We couldn't stop laughing.  She said it so authoritatively with no idea that she had the word completely wrong.  But hey, gross and grocery are kind of similar...

She's growing up so quickly, this girl of ours.  I love when she gets her words mixed up or mispronounces things like she did last night.  I never want to forget the way that she calls fingernails finnigals or fingernangles without batting an eyelid, or the way she says she wants to eat Old McDonald instead of McDonalds.  It's little things like that, that remind me that she's still so young even though it seems like she's growing at an exponential rate.

Thirty Six

Tim turned 36 today.  That sounds so old, or so he keeps telling me. 

Our day started early as usual with Ella waking just after 6am.  She came into bed with us and snuggled quietly for about a minute or so after enthusiastically saying happy birthday to Tim.  I was hoping that we could have a little sleep in (I know that's what Tim craved) but the quiet turned to constant chit chat from our happy little toddler and before we knew it we were up and daddy was opening his presents.

I was planning on making a big breakfast for the birthday boy but instead he'd looked outside and saw the sun and declared that he wanted to go to the beach.  So, off we went.  It wasn't that warm when we left but the forecast suggested that it was going to get hot quickly.  As we drove towards the beach the clouds in the sky told us otherwise but thankfully when we got there they somewhat cleared and the sun came out again.  Tim and Ella swam in the ocean while I watched Lucas intensely staring as the sand slipped through his chubby fingers every time he grabbed at it.

After swimming we loaded everything back into the car, along with what seemed like bucketfuls of sand and headed to nanna and pa's to drop the kids off so we could have a nice lunch together just the two of us.  We went to TGIFridays, reminisced about our travels to America, enjoyed 'adult' conversation, laughed a lot and ate way too much food.  We walked out feeling so heavy and still, hours later, I feel like I've just eaten a full meal.

We've had such a nice long weekend but tomorrow we're back to reality and back into routine.  The house looks like a bomb has exploded.  There's baskets of dirty laundry to do, clean clothes to put away, endless toys to pick up and gritty sand under my feet that needs to be swept.  Oh yeah, and the diet starts tomorrow too!

4/52

Ella //  Trying to get warm next to daddy after a swim in the chilly ocean

Lucas //  Loves when daddy throws him in the air!

Australia Day 2014

We had hopes of spending Australia Day this year at the beach but when we woke this morning it was cool and grey - not the best beach weather much to Ella's disappointment.

At a loss as to what we should do to get out of the house we decided in the end to go for a little drive to Windsor to look at the markets and the International Sand Sculpting Championship entries.  The sand sculptures were amazing, I'm so glad I took my camera.

Tomorrow is Tim's birthday.  Tonight I will be madly wrapping presents and baking a birthday cake.  Nanna is coming over tomorrow so that Tim and I can go out for a nice relaxing lunch together without the kiddo's.  We haven't been out on our own together for a long time - I can't wait!

3/52

Ella //  Summer means watermelon every day.

Lucas // Watching movies with daddy.

Sunday at the beach

I'm terribly behind in updating this little blog of mine.  The new year is well and truly underway and it's off to a positive start.  Tim started back at work after a few weeks off at Christmas time and Ella has started day care two days a week and is absolutely loving it.  Although I'm not quite used to the quietness of the house when she's not here, I've already seen changes in her confidence when she is around other children and my favourite part of the day is when we are driving home and she rattles off all the things that she did with such excitement that she is almost stuttering because the words are spilling out so quickly.  Family life has fallen back into a nice little routine after a haphazard break over the new year, I'm finding my feet again with a renewed sense of positivity.

The weather has been stinking hot here lately so when the kids woke early this morning we took advantage of the fact and drove down to Clifton Gardens to go for a swim.  Our early start meant that there weren't many people around and we were free to swim with barely anybody around.  The water was a beautiful temperature.  Tim took Ella in and I took Lucas into the water for what was his very first beach swim (coincidentally this was the same beach that we took Ella to for her first swim).  He loved it.  His trademark grin was plastered on his face the whole time.   Because there are no waves at this particular beach, it's a much more relaxing experience when you're with kids than going to a surf beach.  We spent quite a bit of time in the water all playing together and it actually felt quite relaxing.  Usually I'm a bit on edge because Ella has no fear of the water and usually just charges straight into the waves without understanding the consequences.

As much as I wish the kids would sleep in past 5.30-6am each morning, I am thankful for the early starts in a way when we get our butts into gear and actually make use of the time like we did today.  The best part was that we were on our way home at 10.30am and it already felt like we'd had a full day!  We were home before lunch which meant I still had so much time to potter around and get things done around the house.  I feel like I accomplished a lot today.  I like that feeling.

2/52

Ella //  She started two days a week at daycare this week and already she's picked up a bug - nothing that a trip to the park won't fix though!

Lucas // Whenever I wear a long skirt or dress he will roll and roll until he gets to my feet and then giggle like crazy while he fluffs the material up and down.

1/52

Ella //  Watching the Smurfs movie...again.  She's currently obsessed to the point where we must call her Smurfette and Tim is Daddy Gargamel. 

Lucas //  So close to crawling - any day now

I followed Jodi's 52 Project last year and thought it was such a simple concept but a lovely way to document the changes in your child over a year.  I don't consider myself a good photographer by any means but will be participating each week in 2014 so that we have a beautiful collection of photos and memories to hold dear.